1/9During the Clash of the Titans race last November at Houston Raceway Park, Mike's combo set a new national record for the series with a 6.70-at-219.33 pass.

In the world of big egos and big paychecks that is professional sports, adding an appendix to your legacy is a hairy endeavor. You could pull a Michael Jordan or a Lance Armstrong and pad an already impressive resume, or you might smack the canvas hard like Sugar Ray. Turn your vacillations into an ESPN soap opera la Brett Favre, and your adoring fan base could turn against you. Unretire every season like Roger Clemens, and your next "I'm back" speech will be as surprising as Clay Aiken's coming-out-of-the-closet announcement. Formidable risks notwithstanding, Mustang drag racing legend Mike Murillo has returned to competition after a five-year hiatus, and he's on a mission to pick up right where he left off. While it's too early to make predictions, don't be surprised if his last championship has yet to be won.

Considering the vast cross section of the hobby that HOT ROD envelops, there may be one or two readers who vaguely recognize Mike's name but can't put a finger on exactly who he his. This is hardly the case in the late-model Mustang and Outlaw 10.5 drag racing circuits, where the man is a bona fide legend. Mike's hoards of fans would probably turn down a date with one of John Force's daughters for the privilege of sweeping the floors at his shop. His long list of accomplishments include five Fun Ford Weekend Outlaw 5.0 championships, three Clash of the Titans titles, a World Ford Challenge shootout victory, and an NMRA Super Street Outlaw championship. Along the way, he's put former NHRA Pro Stock stalwarts like Bob Glidden on the trailer. No wonder legions of Mustang buffs simply refer to his San Antonio, Texas-based shop as The Vatican.

2/9To fit the 88mm turbos, Mike lost the radiator. Inside the cabin is a 10-gallon water tank that feeds into the rear-mounted intercooler via a Meziere electric pump. After exiting the intercooler, some water returns to the tank while the rest goes through the firewall and to the back of each cylinder head. Once exiting the heads, the water is returned to the inboard tank.

The journey to the big stage started out in the late '80s when Mike cruised the streets in his '77 Trans Am. After suffering chronic defeats to 5.0L Mustangs, he picked up an '89 GT convertible to even the playing field. A few simple bolt-ons coupled with some spray got it running low 13s in the quarter, and he eventually traded in the convertible for a lighter '89 LX coupe. Swapping over the convertible's entire driveline into the coupe pared e.t's down to the 12.80s, but for Mike, one power-adder wasn't enough. "My wife and I didn't make much money, but no one in Texas had a Vortech blower back then, and I had to get one," he explains. "I was so desperate that I got a bank loan behind my wife's back to buy a supercharger. To make the loan payments, I even opened up my own checking account to keep my wife from finding out. When the car only ran 12.60s at the track, I literally had tears in my eyes. I couldn't believe I lied to my wife, spent $4,500 on a supercharger, and only picked up two tenths."

Like any determined racer, Mike kept tuning and eventually worked the bugs out of the new combo. By late 1992, the car was running 11s on boost and deep 10s with the nitrous hooked up, making it one of the fastest 5.0L Mustangs in the country. At the time, Mike was paying the bills by working at a local auto parts store and started doing performance parts installs out of his garage to make a few extra bucks. "I started whooping up on cars at the street races, other racers asked me to help them out with their cars, and it just snowballed into a business," he quips. During the early stages of nurturing what would eventually become one of the best-known late-model Mustang shops in the country, Mike got his first taste of heads-up competition in 1993. He attended a local Fun Ford Weekend event and noticed most of the Outlaw cars were running mid-10s. By this time, Mike's Vortech-blown Mustang was clicking off 10.33 at 136 mph, so he igured his car could hold its own. "I'm a very competitive person by nature, and my car was hauling some ass at that time. I saw the e.t.'s these guys were running, and I turned to my buddy and said, 'We can beat these guys.'"

Mike was right. He won his class at his first FFW event in 1994 and went on to win the Outlaw championship that year. His car didn't just win, it dominated, and soon sponsorships started rolling in. "I borrowed a trailer and towed my car all the way to Bristol, Tennessee, in my wife's Taurus station wagon for the next race, and the transmission blew up as soon as we got there," he says, laughing. "Fortunately, we won that race in addition to the following event in Atlanta. People laughed at us when they saw us pull up in a Taurus wagon, but I said, 'You can laugh now, but I'll be the one who's laughing when I go home with all the money.' It was so much fun."

6/9Mike tinkered with rear-mounted turbos while building the car, but the extreme wheelstands adversely affected e.t.'s. He says a rear-mount setup may work well for a drag radial car but not on an Outlaw car with slicks.

By 2002, Mike had tacked on to his record another nine championships in various racing series, but he sold his car and decided to take a break from racing. "I just needed to spend more time with my kids. Not only are you on the road a lot when you're racing, but you're also at the shop late at night every day working on the race car when you're in town," he confides. All the while, however, Mike was planning his comeback. He picked up his current '93 Mustang LX notchback as a rolling chassis six years ago with plans of returning atop the Outlaw 10.5 heap. Despite his ambitions, Mike was well aware that he'd have to seriously improve on the 7.40s he ran in his championship-winning '02 season to stand a chance. "I've always been pretty good at predicting what you'll have to run the upcoming season to be competitive. The NMRA Outlaw record e.t. in 2008 was 6.86, and the average e.t. for the class champion was 6.90. Our goal in 2009 will be running consistent 6.70s, because that's what it's going to take to win NMRA Outlaw 10.5."

Getting there will take loads of power, and like most of the big boys, Mike has some immense turbos up his sleeve. Unlike his peers, however, he attached them to a big-block that displaces 541 ci. It's topped with Trick Flow A460 aluminum heads and a single-plane intake manifold converted to EFI. A Comp 283/278-at-0.050 solid roller cam actuates the valves, and the twin 88mm turbos direct their 30 psi of boost to an air-to-water intercooler mounted in the rear seat area before it's routed back through the firewall and into the motor. Fueling duties are handled by an Aeromotive mechanical pump and Siemens 220-lb-hr injectors, and a BigStuff3 stand-alone EFI system controls the pulse widths. The result is 2,900 hp, and Mike figures he could get another 200 out of the setup with roughly 5 extra psi of boost. Backing it all up is an air-shifted ATI Powerglide trans.

7/9With a powdercoated 'cage and an ultratidy ambiance, the interior is almost too inviting for a race car. Mike relies on a Racepak digital gauge set to keep an eye on the vitals.

To set up the chassis and suspension, Mike turned to Bill Buck Race Cars in Austin, Texas. Since the Mustang's 'cage became outdated over the course of the build, it was gutted and updated to modern 25.2 specs. The rest of the car's underpinnings are custom as well. Up front are BBRC spindles and lower control arms, and a custom four-link and 9-inch rearend reside at the rear. Even with 54 percent of the car's weight biased toward the front, the Mustang carries the front tires farther down the track than Mike would like. Nonetheless, the combo lays down stellar 1.15-second 60-foot times on 33x10.5-inch Mickey Thompson slicks.

If you think those brisk, short times hint at a blazing e.t., you're absolutely right. Mike is quick to point out that his new car hasn't won anything as of yet, but it's already turned the heads of plenty of concerned competitors. While 2008 was essentially a year in which to work out the new car's teething issues, team Murillo has already run a best of 6.70 at 219.33 mph, which set a new national record for the Clash of the Titans series last November. Furthermore, Mike edged out Pro Stock icon Bob Glidden with a 6.77 pass at a Pacific Street Car Association race in Las Vegas late last year, a clear indication that the man is still on top of his game. Plans for the '09 season include competing in FFW, select NMCA races, the World Street Nationals, the PSCA finals, and the Clash of the Titans series. However, Mike's top priority remains NMRA Outlaw 10.5, where he hopes to dip into the 6.60s at 225 mph during the season. Although it's impossible at this point to say whether he'll take home the championship, we have a hunch that many of his peers will be trying to be like Mike next season.

8/9The fuel cell is mounted directly behind the turbos. The Aeromotive mechanical pump is driven off of a beltdriven oil pump. That way, if the engine ever loses oil pressure, it will shut down fuel flow and hopefully spare the short-block from excessive damage. Exhaust from the turbos is routed through 4-inch piping before being dumped behind the front tires.

Quick Inspection: '93 Ford Mustang LXMike MurilloSan Antonio, TX

POWERTRAINEngine: The formula for making a dyno-proven 2,900 hp is a generous helping of boost and cubic inches. Based on an RDI block bored to 4.500 inches, the 541ci big-block Ford relies on a Scat 4.250-inch billet steel crankshaft, GRP 6.700-inch aluminum rods, and custom 9.2:1 JE pistons to fortify the bottom end. Up top, ported Trick Flow A460 aluminum castings fitted with 2.30/1.88-inch Ferrea valves route pressurized air to each cylinder. Valve events are managed by Jesel shaft-mount rockers and a custom Comp 283/278-at-0.050 solid roller cam with 0.824/0.793 lift ground on a 116-degree lobe-separation angle. Supplying 30 psi of boost are a pair of Precision 88mm turbos positioned right behind the grille. They're driven by gases funneled through a set of custom 1 7/8-inch headers, and spent fumes are eventually dumped right behind the front tires through 4-inch piping. On the cold side, boost from each huffer merges into a Y-pipe before being routed through the interior and into a Bell air-to-water intercooler mounted to the rear seat area. Air passes back through the interior and firewall into an Accufab 105mm throttle body and rear-facing intake elbow. They feed a ported Trick Flow single-plane intake manifold converted to EFI. Managing fuel flow are massive Siemens 220-lb-hr injectors, an Aeromotive mechanical pump, FAST fuel rails, and a Turbosmart regulator. Kotzur Racing Engines built the motor, and Mike fabricated the turbo setup and tuned the BigStuff3 computer.

Transmission: Race cars don't need lots of gears, so an ATI Powerglide is the ideal trans for the job. It's matched with an SFI-approved ATI bellhousing, flexplate, 10.5-inch converter, and trans brake. An air-actuated B&M shifter selects the gears.

9/9Mike's original race car, dubbed the Star Car, had a wildly popular paint scheme modeled after the Texas state flag. Designed by Southern Paint & Body (Burnsville, North Carolina), the new paint scheme draws inspiration from the original car and features a unique pattern with different hues on the left and right sides of the body.

CHASSISFrame: Bill Buck Race Cars built the custom 25.2 rollcage. It has been powerdercoated black for an extra-slick finish.

Suspension: Getting the chassis to hook is a custom four-link also built by Bill Buck. Santhuff front shocks, Afco rear shocks, and Hypercoil springs all around help manage weight transfer. The front control arms and spindles are custom BBRC pieces. A Flaming River steering rack guides the car down the track.

Brakes: The front drag brakes are from Strange, and the rears are from Aerospace. A Chrysler master cylinder pressurizes the fluid. Weld Alumastar forgings measure 15x4 in the front and 15x10 out back.

Tires: What Outlaw class rules limit in width is made up for in height. The rear Mickey Thompson slicks stand in at 33x10.5, and the fronts are 25x4.5.

STYLEBody: The '93 Mustang notchback Mike purchased six years ago is planned for Outlaw 10.5 and high-6-second e.t.'s. He's set on winning Outlaw 10.5 in 2009 and has a 6.70 already under his belt.

Paint: Southern Paint & Body came up with the custom paint scheme using House of Kolor paint.

Interior: It's not supposed to be luxurious, but the interior is very clean for a race car. Bill Buck built the custom seat, and the driver faces a Grant steering wheel and a Racepak digital gauge set. Safety items include a Stroud harness and a Firefox fire system. Murillo Motorsports wired up everything.